Run On Guns Has Now Forced Poor Robbers To Stick Up Banks At Hammerpoint

Has the recent run on guns made it difficult for robbers to be properly outfitted for bank heists?

A 61-year-old man is facing a federal felony charge in connection with the hammerpoint stickup Wednesday of an Anchorage, Alaska bank, according to an FBI affidavit.

Investigators allege that Alan Bronson Rice walked into a KeyBank branch and removed a hammer from a small backpack. When Rice placed the tool on the counter at a teller’s window, a KeyBank employee asked “what he was going to do with the hammer.”

After motioning that he would strike teller Houa Vue with the hammer, Rice announced, "I need your money. Give me your 100s and 50s. I’m gonna hit you with this hammer. Hurry up!” Vue handed Rice $1039 and he exited the bank at 2:40 PM.

Rice was subsequently arrested several blocks from the KeyBank (a cop found him sitting on a bench). A search of Rice’s backpack turned up a hammer, and “money with a tracking device” was recovered from his pocket.

While in custody at the FBI’s Anchorage office, Rice asked if he could make a statement. He then noted that he “wanted to be released so that he could leave the country to serve his god.” Rice, who is being held in an Anchorage jail, is scheduled for an initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court.